Method of laying tramway lines



July 24, 1928. 1,678,552

A. BOUILLON METHOD' 0F LAYING TRAMWAY LINES Filed Sept. 21, 1925 3Sheets-Sheet 1 July 24, 19.28. 1,618,552 A. BOUILLON METHOD OF LAYINGTRAMWAY LINES Fileasept. 21,- 1925 s sneeis-sneet 2 ai" l lli/4 A July24, 192s. 1,678,552 A. BOUILLON METHOD OF LAYING TRAMWAY LINES FiledSept. 21, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July v24, 1928.

paraat; Fries. y

ALEXANDRE BoiJILLonoF Linen, BELeiUM.

METHOD OFIIAYING TRAIIWY LINES.

f Application iled SeptemberI 21, 1925, `Serial No. 57,694, andinyBelgium September 26, 1924.

In the construction' of tramway lines, there are two essential pointswhich must bek considered,. .naniely :z l.-..-The line proper whichcomprises the rails and thesupports. 2.-'Ihe covering of the road.

The primitive. system of establishing a line consistedin laying'xtherails on wooden ,blocks commonly. called' sleepers.`

This system is analogous to for the working of the largey railway lines.where itfgives complete` satisfactioiias it has become generalinv thewhole vof the world.r Its applicationy to tramways, however, isnot" assuccessful'l 'lTlie railways are usuallylaid onspecial. chairsandthesleepers are placed i. on a thick layer of ballast the rails, the

sleepers and alll the accessories remain. uncovered andare alwaysVisible; thedrain ageoflthe water-is always assured. On the contrarytramway lines are nearly always laid in 'paved' roads of highways usedby ordinary vehiclesand'inust undergo all kinds of destructive effectscaused by the latter; the laying down of sleepersjis 'not effected verycarefully; the rails, their supports and all the line accessories arecovered by a covy ering layer which makes them invisible andinaccessible without previous demolition;v

and they are, as a rule, lif notl always, laid on a lay-er of ballast ofinsufficient thickness; theyy are. sometimes laid Asimply on theground.`

After a` littlewhile'the foundation or the y sleepers sinks intogtheground and the cover-k ing of the roaydis broken up; from this re-A`sults a, defective traiiic circulation. and very considerablemaintenance expenses.

,When aline laid on sleepers is carefully considered it is found thatthe paving stonesv of the road rest alternativelyv on the'ksleepers andron the ground in the *intervals between the former;L thepavin-grst'onesj'which 'rest onl the .sleepers could i'iot sink down but thosewl'iicli are ,onfthe intermedizitek spaces be-y tween the-sleepers restony a soil. capableof w f; being compressed and being deformed and,

whichjfayours their sinking in. By reason of this keircumstance thereare formedlvery frequently, if vnot always', inside the linesundulatifons in t'hevpavement which are very prejudiciall to k,thetraliic of ordinary',vehi-` cles and which make frequent repairs neces?sary;

in; traer to 'i da 'away with' this Y inconveniencethe rails have beenplaced eitherV f oneast iron chairs or on wooden blocks 'fixed' that inuseV l ulciently satisfactory, the, lesslso, as this `system entailedinconveniences which did noti. appertain lto the simple line.

The running ofthe cars on rails resting on concrete sleepers is hard andsonoi'ous.` rl`he lwant of elasticity. ofwthese sleepers produces a veryconsiderable undulatory wear ofthe riding surface of the rails. Whenthere is an undulatory wear the ruiming is very,disagreeable andproduces a grinding sound..` y K "hisundulatory wear can onlybe made-iodisappea" by machining yor grinding the., rails. This is `an expensivework which, moreover.Y has as a result a more rapid wear of the rails. ly

The undulatory igeaif has a repercussive effect vupon the tires ofVthefwheels of the Vcars which, after aV vcertain timeA ,mustV he truedonthe lathe. l

From.r the foregoing it may vbe concluded that a tramway .line mustpossess the following characteristics f l. lilasticity.y` In Vorder thatit may possess this featurethe rails must rest on supports placed atycertain distances apart;y these supports must themselves, show a certainelasticity; iron, stone, lconcrete and' any similar material cannot beused for this pur-l pose.V Wood is most suitable forthepurose. l v

2. As little noise as possible. For this construction materials of theleast resonaucy must be used, and, if possible, every device must beadopted` which reduc-es this resonancy. 3.' Stability.`-F`or thispurpose it. must be laid on arigidfoundation whichr cannot be deformed.4f.4 The covering of the road must be constructed of hard materialswhich offer a great' resistance'to wear. 5. This covering mustbe firm,that is to say, it inust be laid on a rigid foundation which cannotbedeformed and which forms one body with the foundation of theline.

Theobject ofthe present inventionis to provide a method of layingatramway line Vwhich possesses the qualities above` reof Figure 1 on asmaller scale, in the direction of the axis of the rail. i

Figure 3 represents a plan view4 Figure l.

Figure 4 represents a cross section of a Figure 8 represents a plan viewof' Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings, the rails, such as 1, are laid on'woodenblocks 2 resting on a concrete foundation 3, which may be yreinforcedconcrete or otherwise, with the interposition of a suitable layer ofmaterial or of a` resilient plate 4.V

The wooden blocks 2 are thus enclosed in the concrete foundation 3 withthe exception of o-ne side, where they are engaged by aV wedge 5, thelength of which is such that if for any reason it should becomenecessary to plane down, remove or renew the block 2, the wedge 5 couldbe removed and the block 2 could be shifted by a sufficient amount to beitself removed without destroying the concrete of the foundation.

The foundation 3 is to be of such a thickness as to correspo-nd to theresistance of the ground; if necessary, it can be reinforced;

as indicated, for instance, by Figures 4 and -by iron inserts such as 6.

This foundation extends for the .length of the road occupied by thetrack.

The rails 1 are kept at the normal distance from each other by iron rods7; they Y have applied on both sides either bricks 8 or concrete, so asto establishk a substantial and regular abutment'for the paving stones9; they are fixed to the blocks 2 by means of wood screws with flatheads.

The line rests on wooden blocks 2 which serve the saine purpose as thesleepers, in the line on sleepers; as a. mat-ter of fact, the sleeper,which serves as support for the two rails becomes, in the event of asinking of one of its ends a lever, which causes the rais ing up of theother end; from this results an upsetting of the line, which breaks uthe covering material all over t-he length; the sleeper, therefore.makes the two rails as if they formed one piece one with the other,whilst the block-s 2 make the rails absolutely independent one from theother and, even assuming that one blockmight sink, the one opposite itwill not be affected thereby in any way and the deterioration of theline is localized to the neighbourhood of the block which has given way.

Y tion.

this is done in order to secure for the rails a greaterrigidity and thusto diminish, as far as possible, the deteriorations which occur byreason of their susceptibility of mo rlhe line on blocks is elastic;this velasticity is largely increased .by placing under the blocks 2,the resilient plate or layer 4.

It will not be very noisy because, apart from the wooden blocks 2, theresilient plate or layer 4V on which they 'rest reduces the resonanceconsiderably,

Two blocks represent a cubic measure of wood equivalent approximately toone third of that of a sleeper, from kwhich results a very substantialsaving in the first cost.

The wedge 5 may consist either of new soft wood orl ofV wood alreadypreviously used '(old' sleepers, for instance) pavement waste, orbricks.

The concrete foundation-3 will give to the line a perfect stability; itsthickness will, of course, be proportionate to the resistance of thesoil, so that no sinking whatever can occur.

f The foundation concrete may consist, for instance, of fresh granulatedslag from blast furnaces or of other suitable material, to which isadded at least one-tenth of cement;

Vthe cement may be substituted by two-tenths of freshly slaked lime.

The concrete thus prepared sets rather rapidly and becomes exceedinglyVhard and resisting; it has, moreover, the enormous advantageof a verylow cost..

If necessary the` concrete may consist of unwashed ashes from zincWorks, to which are added cement and lime, asin the case of freshgranulated slag from blast furf naces.` y f The road covering .(seeFigures 1 and 4) will consist of paving stones, such as 9,"of sandstone,porphyry, quartzite or other similar materials. This covering will notbe subject to deformation andl will be very firm, as it rests on afoundation 3 of solid and rigid concrete which alsoA is not sub-ject todeformation, with an intermediate uniform elastic andnon-compressiblelayer 10 of gravel sand of Vfrom 4to 5 cm.thickness.`

This elastic layer of sand will, moreover, have the effect of enablingthe paving stones to resist perfectly the shocks of wheeled traffic andprevent their destruction.

With this ysystem it is possible, or even necessary, to make use of lowpaving stones, that is to. say, such as of 13cm. yheight in tead ofpaving stones of 15 cm. height, because, when using pavingstonesof 15cm., those placed against the vrails would rest partly on the rail tootand partly on the layer ot' sand and there would then exist a tendency.s for them to be turned over or to break; in

small dimensions, the system represented inV Figures 6, 7 andV S is tobe employed.r

1n this arrangement the foundations 3 in concrete are continued underrails 1 in the shape of longitudinal sleepers 13: they coinprise thegrooves necessary itorv the placing of an elastic layer a and o1 theblock 2 and an empty space 14; under the rails 1 which is indispensablefor-their free bending and their elasticity. The foundations are con-`nected by a layer of concrete 1 2 having parallel to the rails 1Vsuitable intervals tor` placing the brick-s 8, adjacent to the web ofthe rails, and the paving stones such as 9 the purpose of which is toseparate the layer of asphalt 11 from the rails 1 and to allow of easyaccess to the devices Stor fixing the rails 1 to the blocks 2. n i Itis'to be understood that `the `drawing serve only as showing an exampleot construction and that other details may be given for instance to theconcrete `foundation and tothe elastic layer, without the essentialpartl olf the invention being departed from.

The first cost is not very high and is approximately equivalent tothatot the line placed on longitudinal ballast sleepers The maintenanceof the lineand of the road covering` is practically nil or at leastreduced to the strictest minimum.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention,

and inv what manner the same is to be peryformed, l declare that what Iclaim is:

1.` A tramway road-bed comprising a concretefoundation member having arectangular recess formed in its top, said recess having side and endwalls of unbroken area and a bottom of unbroken area and having its topVopen for substantially its full area and being of different depths,having a deep lportion and a shallow portion, in combination with anelastic cushioning layer arranged in the deep portion, a wooden blocklocated in the deep portion entirely and resting on said cushioninglayer and supporting a tramway rail, and a 'vi/'edging member eX-tending in saidshallow portion and bearing against said wooden block andan opposed face ot'one of the walls of said recess, whereby removal ofsaid block and wedge in any direction other than vertically upward isprevented. l

2. A tramway road-bed comprising a concrete foundation member having anoblong recess having its top open for substantially its full area andbeing delined by an unbroken, in a horizontal plane, wall of con- Ycrete, incombination with a Wooden block vof less length than saidrecess snugly fitting therein. and wedging means bearing against an endof said block and the opposedend wall of saidrecess to hold said blockagainst substantial movementin said recess, said block and wedge beingintroduced into said recess through the open top thereof and inassembled relation therein lying between vertical planes defining thevertical profile ot the said recess.

ln testimony whereof,l I have signed my name to this specification atAntwerp, Belgium, this 9 day of September, 1925.

ALEXANDRE f BOUILLON. n'

